Phantasy Star Zero
Phantasy Star Ø is a Nintendo DS game in the Phantasy Star series, developed and published by Sega. The game was released in Japan on December 25, 2008, has release date in North America of November 10, 2009 and was released in Europe on February 12, 2010. The game expands on the gameplay mechanics of online games in the series, such as Phantasy Star Online, but also features an offline general story mode. Classes : Main article: Phantasy Star Zero Classes '' The classes from the original ''Phantasy Star Online return but with new designs. There are 3 different races and 3 different class types. Races Three races are introduced in the game: Humans, proficient with melee, ranged and technique combat even they are far below the CAST and the Newmans. They are very adaptable, and is balanced between melee, ranged and technique combat with balanced HP and defense cap, making them suitable for the beginner players. CASTs are artificial life forms that are proficient in melee and ranged combat. However they cannot use techniques, making the class Force is unavailable to them. They have high HP cap and accuracy, making them suitable for intermediate players. The last race is Newman, the lunar race that lives on the surface of Moon. They have low HP and defense cap, making them very vulnerable to attacks but in compensation of very high proficiency in techniques, making them suitable for advanced players. The class Ranger is also unavailable to this race. Class There are three classes introduced in this game: First is Hunter class. They are suitable for melee combat, have high HP and defense cap, and are very adaptable. However, Hunter for Newman class is more focused in agility and speed. Second is the Ranger class. They are very adaptable for ranged weapons such as cannons, bazookas and guns, allowing them to deal damage while they are relatively far away and safe from the distant of the enemy, allowing them to support their mates with powerful attacks. Third is the Force class, this class is heavily focused for attacking with techniques and supporting the party with support techniques. They can cast powerful techniques, but they need to be covered by their teammates that are not Force to be able to execute the technique, making them won't last long if solo-ing through the stage. Story The game features three different main stories, starting with Humans, CAST and Newmans. Each storyline is different, but in the end they all are connected. Main Story: Human Main Story: CAST The story begins with a Descend Pods crashing onto the scene, and one of them strikes down near the player character. They are later found by Sarisa, who leaves the pod and in reality is a Newman, a race thought to be extinct 200 years ago in result of the Great Blank. As with all CASTs, the player is unable to remember anything except his/her name, and recently wake up from the stasis, is unaware to his/her surroundings. Sarisa then took the amnesiac player to the city, where they are greeted with an emergency situation. Then they accept their first quest, a mission to rescue a missing hunter. After a long and hard climb, they fight the hostiles that appear, but are unable to save the hunter. They then buried him, to be found by Kai, and after a chat are escorted by Kai to go back to the city. Game Mechanics Featured in the game is "Visual Chat", a take on PictoChat where players communicate by drawing on the DS touchscreen. According to the February issue of Nintendo Power (Vol.238, page 38), "Up to 20 messages may be saved to shortcuts so they're accessible at any time via a quick tap of the touch screen". However, communication among unfamiliar users is limited to keyboard chat and premade images. The game contains three online modes: Free Mode, in which the player is randomly paired up with a party; Friend Mode, where the player can invite friends into a private room (and vice versa); and Single Mode, where the player can play online by himself to level up (similar to Phantasy Star Online's offline mode). Also, There is a full offline story mode as mentioned above. Weapons The game contains over 350 weapons, debuting two new weapon classes, shields and gunslashes. Shields are a blunt weapon that can be used to block an enemy attack at the cost of PP, and Gunslashes are a hybrid mix between a gun and a sword, allowing for long range and short range interchangeability.The long range shooting mode can be activated by holding the L shoulder button. In this mode attacking shoots a 3-way, unchainable shot There is also a code input system where the player inputs a code and receives prizes based on which code is entered. The game featured cameo weapons from games such as Valkryia Chronicles, Zelda, Metroid, Mario, Hatsune Miku and a few others. However, due to licensing issues, some these weapons didn't make the cut in the American version and the when playing with Japanese players who have any of these weapons, they will look like a different weapon instead. Areas Phantasy Star Zero has a host of 8 brand new areas to romp through, however only seven of them can be done online. One thing that is unique about these areas in comparison to the original Phantasy Star Online is that half of the areas are in the wilderness instead of being inside enclosed corridors, though the other half of the areas do consist of those. The areas included are: *Gurhacia Valley *Rioh Snowfield *Ozette Wetlands *Oblivion City Paru *Makara Ruins *Arca Plant *Dark Shrine *Eternal Tower Spin-Offs DSiWare version A smaller version of the game, Phantasy Star Ø Mini, was released for the Nintendo DSiWare service on March 25, 2009 for 200DSi points. Up to 4 players could play together via wireless connection and race through Gurhacia Valley in order to defeat Reyburn with the highest score. Although it is not possible to create a character in this version, Sarisa, Ogi and Kai are able to be selected. Because of this limitation, duplicates of each character can be used in multiplayer runs. Sega has also mentioned the possibility of a new Nintendo DSi-exclusive downloadable stage for the game, possibly one from the original Phantasy Star Online. A poll for players to pick their favorite classic stage will be held on Sega of Japan's website at a later date. Flash game A flash game titled Go! Go! Hunters was released for mobile phones and could be accessed by scanning a QR code from the official Japanese website. The player would control Sarisa and score points for as long as they could keep Ogi's head from falling onto the floor. According to the website, an item code for a special weapon would be published once every player collectively gathered 100,000,000 points in the game. The service has been discontinued and the game is no longer accessible through the official website. Reception Phantasy Star Ø received a high 33 out of 40 from Famitsu magazine, which praised the game's controls, game play, and online mode, noting "it really feels like an online game in the palm of your hand." The publication criticized the game's "softness of the sound." As for American reception, Phantasy Star Ø got an 8/10 from Nintendo Power. External links *Official website (Japanese Site) *Official English website (Wayback Machine) *[http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ds/dsiware/kpsj/index.html Phantasy Star Ø Mini] at Nintendo.co.jp Category:Phantasy Star Zero Category:Games Category:Phantasy Star Online (Series) Category:Nintendo DS games Category:Mobile games